


Paramus

by TheCaitalloWrites



Series: The End of the World as We Know It [4]
Category: Glee
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Blood and Gore, Gen, M/M, Subtext, no actual sebelliott but subtext
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-19
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-21 03:19:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10676607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCaitalloWrites/pseuds/TheCaitalloWrites
Summary: The boys make it to Paramus, but Paramus has seen better days.





	1. Chapter 1

“This is it,” Elliott said, as they entered the city limits, “Paramus. The old stomping grounds.” A quick survey of the area told them that Paramus, or at least this side of it, had seen some shit. “Or what’s left of it,” he added.  
  
He hadn’t expected it to be as it was the last time he’d seen it, but this change was worse than he had expected. All around them buildings were either boarded up or destroyed. Whether it had been human looters or zombie attackers, the results were the same. He hoped the rest of the city didn’t look this bad.  
  
“Well, this _is_ just the outer limits,” Adam said, “There may be people downtown.”  
  
“Yeah, well, you and I both know that’s not always a good thing,” Sebastian commented. His hand had gone to the grip of his handgun.  
  
“True,” Adam responded simply. Leave it to Adam to look for positives and Sebastian to look for negatives. At least they had a balance.  
  
They didn’t talk much as they continued exploring the city, and the more they saw the more grim the picture of Paramus became. More and more signs of destruction, of abandonment, of death. Elliott couldn’t help but think of every boarded up or damaged property the way it once had been, and he sighed sadly.  
  
There was a small residential area nearby comprised of low-income housing; he stopped and called the group to halt. His Uncle Carl and cousin Sylvia lived in that neighborhood. If they were still there. If they still lived. “I’ve got an uncle and a cousin that live in one of those houses. Let’s go check it out. I wanna see if they’re still there.” He hoped for the best, but he was really starting to fear the worst.  
  
They turned down the side street and walked until they reached Uncle Carl’s house. From the outside it was evident the place had been trashed. Still, weapons drawn, they went inside.  
  
“Uncle Carl? Sylvia? You guys still here? It’s me Elliott!” Elliott called, but in his breaking heart he knew it was in vain. The inside of the home was in even worse shape than the outside, and there was no sign that anybody had been there in a while.  
  
He didn’t visit them often, hadn’t seen them in years, but it still hurt so much to know they were gone, that he would never see them again. Looking at the demolished living room, he couldn’t help but remember taking a hit off Uncle Carl’s joint at age sixteen and swearing he’d never tell his parents or holding a newborn Sylvia at age eight, marvelling at how something so small and precious could someday become a person. Tears blurred his vision.  
  
“Let’s go,” he said and left the scene at a brisk pace, desperate to get away before it tainted any more memories.

  


After that, they all travelled in silence. Outside of a brief encounter with a small group of zombies (none of which Elliott recognized, thankfully), there were no signs of anybody but them out in the streets. His hometown had become a ghost town, it seemed. It made his heart ache, and it made him walk faster. His parents had to be okay. They had to. God, what was he gonna do if they weren’t?  
  
Finally, they had made it to his parents’ house. It was boarded up, but looked to be in otherwise good shape. He dared to hope they were okay, at least until he saw…  
  
The front door was open.


	2. Chapter Two

Elliott didn’t think. Couldn’t think. He just ran right in. “No!” he cried. He wasn’t prepared for what he was running into; he would later note that he could never have prepared himself for what was waiting for him inside.  
  
It was like a still from a horror movie. No, it was infinitely worse than that because it was very real and it was personal. Elliott felt sick.  
  
The place was utterly trashed. There were obvious signs of struggle. Brown blood stains had soaked into the floors, splattered onto furniture, and small remnants of tissue and viscera littered some of the bloodier areas.  
  
An involuntary, hysterical scream tore its way out of Elliott, and he collapsed to the floor. No, no, no, no, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. This was worst thing he’d seen since the start of the apocalypse, the worst fucking thing he’d seen in his whole life, and it had happened to his family in their home.

  


“Elliott! Wait!” Sebastian had shouted and ran after his friend, taking the rifle off his back in the process. Kurt and Adam drew their weapons and followed.  
  
Immediately, they were hit with a sickly stench that Sebastian hated that he recognized as dried blood and rotting flesh. The only sound was the buzzing of so many fucking flies; that is, until Elliott screamed and fell to the floor.  
  
Sebastian rushed to him, but he wasn’t sure what he’d intended to do. There was fucking _nothing_ he could do. He hovered over his friend awkwardly.  
  
God, Sebastian had never seen anything this bad. There was so much blood. Kurt and Adam searched the house,but they all knew there was nobody home. “Oh my God, Elliott. Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” a voice that sounded nothing like his own said.  
  
The way Elliott had screamed would no doubt haunt Sebastian’s nightmares forever, as would this entire scene. His head was spinning. The oppressive heat suddenly felt that much hotter, and suddenly, he was acutely aware of the need to vomit. He ran outside into the fresh air and heaved up his meager breakfast. Once finished, he continued to dry heave and hyperventilate for several seconds before he remembered he’d left Elliott.  
  
Elliott may have physically stayed where Sebastian left him, but Elliott was fucking _gone_ , and had been since he’d hit the floor. He was practically curled in on himself, and he was sobbing uncontrollably. “We need to get you out of here,” Sebastian voiced the realization aloud. “Guys!” he barked at the others, “We need to get out of here _now_.”  
  
Kurt and Adam both nodded, and they helped Sebastian get Elliott off the floor. “C’mon, Elliott,” Sebastian urged him, “Let’s go. We have to go.” They had to basically drag him out of the house.  
  
It was obvious none of them had any fucking idea what to do or say. None of them had prepared for anything like this. How could they have been so stupidly naive? 

  


They left the house in silence. None of them knowing what to say in the wake of such horror. They didn’t even know where they were going, just that they had to get away.  
  
Elliott was moving on his own again, but otherwise he was still totally shut down. Sebastian didn’t know what to make of this, if anything, but seeing Elliott like this, going through such absolute hell and breaking down, was torture unlike anything he’d ever endured. Though he often tried to hide it, Sebastian _was_ capable of empathy, but this was deeper than anything he could ever recall feeling. He felt a strange desperation to do literally anything, whatever he could do, to help Elliott, and part of him even thought he would take the pain on for Elliott if only he could.  
  
But there was nothing Sebastian or any of them could do. He felt so helpless, and he fucking hated it.


	3. Chapter Three

He and Elliott had become friends almost from their first meeting, which hadn’t been too long before this whole apocalypse mess had started. They had gotten close much faster than Sebastian normally allowed. But there was just something about Elliott. Sure, at first, Sebastian’s motives had been impure, but soon, a lot sooner than he cared to admit, the time they spent together had nothing at all to do with the fact that Elliott was attractive and single. Hell, he wasn’t even trying to sleep with him anymore. Maybe that was because of the apocalypse putting a major damper on everyone’s sex lives, but maybe it wasn’t. This was all uncharted territory for Sebastian.  
  
Elliott was a great guy, much better than Sebastian when it came to dealing with people in a nice, respectful way and making morally sound decisions. He was so open, so down-to-earth, and so caring, which was stuff Sebastian didn’t even realize he valued as much as he did. And he was so much fun to be around, even if all they did was talk. He saw the walls that Sebastian kept up, and he removed just enough of the metaphorical bricks to work his way in. He had practically made Sebastian become his best friend, and Sebastian, somewhat uncharacteristically, had let him.  
  
He didn’t fucking deserve this. Sebastian knew life wasn’t fair, and the end of the goddamn world certainly wasn’t fair, but damn it! Why Elliott’s family? Why Elliott? Was that really fucking necessary? Sebastian shook his head. Who the hell was he even asking? God? Until recently, Sebastian had been sure God didn’t exist. Now, he honestly didn’t know what to believe (or not to believe) anymore.

  


Suddenly, Elliott stopped, causing the rest of them to stop and almost collide with each other. He seemed to come back to himself, at least a little bit. “Where are we going?” he asked.  
  
They all looked at each other. No one knew the answer. Finally, Adam replied, “Away.”  
  
Kurt looked around. “Where are we?” He tried to consult his maps, but they didn’t have a city map of Paramus, so Sebastian really didn’t know what good that was supposed to do.  
  
Their map of Paramus stared down at the pavement with unseeing eyes. Sebastian placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him an inquisitive look. “Do you have any idea where we are?”  
  
Elliott looked around. “I-I think… if we keep heading north—I think we’ll end up...out of town.” It was clearly hard for him to talk after all of the crying he had done and with his mind still evidently fucked up.  
  
But they needed to keep him talking. If for no other reason than because Sebastian needed an answer to the question that had been haunting him almost since they’d left the horrible place that had once been Elliott’s home. “So, what now?” he asked.  
  
“Hm?” Elliott was confused. He looked so out of it.  
  
“Where does this leave us? Where are we gonna go? What are we gonna do?” He hated to interrogate Elliott right now in his current state, but they needed to know.  
  
Elliott seemed to consider this, struggle with it. “I don’t know,” he confessed, “I—I really don’t…” He looked like he was thinking about it some more. “I-I think… I think I—I wanna go with them… with Kurt and Adam, t-t-to Lima.”  
  
The question “are you nuts?” was at the tip of Sebastian’s tongue, but as he continued to watch Elliott something inside him told him to be gentle. It was the same part of him that hurt because of how badly Elliott was hurting. So, instead, he softly asked, “Are you sure?”  
  
Elliott nodded and bit his lip. He sniffed. “There’s nothing here for us… There’s nothing back where we came from either.” He paused, and Sebastian could tell it was still hard for him to speak.  
  
So, he spared him from any further explanation. “Okay,” he said, putting his hand back on Elliott’s shoulder. Elliott placed a hand over it, and something about that gesture tugged at Sebastian’s normally guarded heart. He still wasn’t so sure of the plan, but in that moment he decided he was as sure of it as he was anything else. After all, nothing was certain anymore, was it?

**Author's Note:**

> Updates are short on this one! Sorry! That was just the best way I knew to divide the story up.   
> Also, as I did with Jersey City and will probably do in the future with other locations; I sort went with creative license over accurate details in terms of the layout of the city (and also used vague language so you could possibly pretend I didn't!) And regarding Elliott's family, I just sort of made them up since we know nothing of his family in canon (I will almost certainly do this for everyone who isn't Kurt.)  
> Anyway, thanks, as always for reading! And as always, feedback is always welcomed!


End file.
